Thursday, April 24, 2014

Diplomacy Is Bullying, Part 1

Agent Capt Starfox has earned a reputation for efficiently terminating those who would refuse the blessings of the Code. But he has a softer side, too. Starfox yearns for an outbreak of reason and understanding among the carebears. To that end, he stepped up to become the New Order's lead diplomat.

Gankers aren't the only EVE players who need courage to do their job. Diplomats do, too. For they must travel to strange lands and subject themselves to the twisted cultures and backward thinking of their enemies. Respectfully. His first stop? Union 416.

EVE System > Channel MOTD: This channel has been set up in accordance with the dictates of the Declaration of April 16, 2014, and is presently maintained by the Kalidasa corporations. Ganking is Bullying. Drag 'n' drop to share a link to this channel: Union 416 Capt Starfox > Hello all o/Raven Eaglefeather > ganker alertCapt Starfox > Can someone help me understand why ganking is bullying?Capt Starfox > To me if CCP allows it, it's not bullying, but that's my opinion, what's yours?

At this point, some background information is necessary. Union 416 is an anti-Order channel created after random carebear Eloise Stormgren issued the "Declaration of April 16, 2014".

You can read this "Declaration" on the EVE forums. I'll give you a summary, though: The Code it ain't.

In fact, the rebels' latest literary masterpiece was so baffling that even CCP Falcon saw fit to take a shot at it. The thread didn't make it to two pages before it was locked. Although it's unclear whether more than one or two errant carebears signed onto this "Declaration", it is affiliated with another anti-Order movement, one started by a blogger who believes ganking is bullying.

No, not rswfire.

No, not that guy, either. I'm talking about a blog where the author is willing to come right out and say that he thinks all ganking in highsec is literally bullying. In fact, the title of the blog is "Ganking Is Bullying".

You can read their manifesto here. Again, I'll summarize: The Code it ain't. And so we find ourselves in a soup of carebear confusion, all created by people who genuinely believe shooting a spaceship in a 0.5 security system is morally repugnant in real life, and possibly criminal. It sounds crazy. But in a world where a CSM member passionately argues that Bonus Rounds are literally "torture" (using a line of reasoning very similar to the Ganking Is Bullying blog), why not?

Thus, the new breed of rebel miner is born. It almost makes one nostalgic for the days of "I'm going to hire powerful mercenaries from nullsec to stop you from bumping me!" Only by understanding the bizarre extremes of the new carebear mentality can one truly appreciate the courage of Capt Starfox and his diplomatic mission. These are the people he has volunteered to reason with.

Raven Eaglefeather > i will answer with a counter point. say a hacker breaks into a teenagers webcam and records her naked and spreads her picture all over the internet. she then kills herself. what would that be considered?Capt Starfox > How is that relevant to ganking in a video game?Raven Eaglefeather > time and money invested in a game being forcefully taken from you in a place where you thought you would be safe.Raven Eaglefeather > something being forcefully taken by another in a place where you felt or were supposed to be secure, sounds familiar.Raven Eaglefeather > like home invasion, rape, robbery.

Capt Starfox made his way into the toxic environment of the new resistance movement, armed with only his wits and his Code. He was going to need to them both if the mission was to be a success.

Kristall, that was my first response as well. The really strange thing is that this unwarranted feeling of safety is the major problem in the CareBears' mindset. It is what all the other problems stem from. So they liken it to a hacker, exploiting teen girls until they suicide? That shows some seriously twisted thinking on their part. And really, even in explaining that example, where did the alleged girl suicide lose any money or time?

Soooooo, the hypothetical girl killed herself because she missed out on profits from porn that she starred in? That makes total sense now. Thanks for clearing it up.

Extrapolating, this means that the main problem miners have with ganking is that they aren't getting any ad revenue from the YouTube videos that show enforcement actions against them. Do we have any entertainment lawyers? Perhaps we can clear up this whole brouhaha with a simple royalties contract.

Calling people sociopaths because they beat you at a computer game is bullying.You heard it here first.Also after the mean things Ripard said i can't sleep at night and sleep deprivation is a form of torture...../end sarcasm.Silveticawhatever happened to HTFU?

I think that died when CCP started hiring people who believe the same things that RT believes. Thankfully the senior people want to keep the original design philosophy so the carebear supporters must rely on whipping up a storm on external sites to get attention from the gaming press.

Ganking is just one of many forms of non-consensual pvp in this game. Bumping and gate-camping are others. All of these would qualify as 'bullying', according to the proponents of this movement, and bullying would be more prevalent in areas outside highsec.

Only a carebear would equate internet spaceship ganking to actions that cause real, lasting emotional and physical harm to the victim. I wonder how many rape survivors would agree that their trauma is comparable to getting redboxed by a few Catalysts.

As a former miner and a player featured in a 3 part story, I have now switched sides in the argument. I used to be a mindless AFK miner and frankly It is not the afk mining that bothers me, it is the terrible insults and the cry baby nature of most Miners that is pathetic. I have lost 1 mackinaw, 2 retrievers, and 2 covetors to AFK suicide ganks, and I knew the risk I was taking. I know the risk I am taking in this game everytime I login. For instance I almost accidentally took a freighter full of 200 million ISK through Isanamo and hit stop before I went through the jump gate. because I used my brain.

I'm a miner, and there a too many carebear mining corps around my hi sec area... I come out to mine and I see them stripping out all the best ore in the belts! Shouldn't CCP ban them for the torture I feel when I go out mining and no longer see my favorite ore around??

I personally have had a change of heart on this subject. EVE is meant to be a dangerous place. That is the fun of it. It is easy to get emotionally invested in an MMO and equate an attack on your ship as an attack on one's person in IRL. That's why your hands shake with adreniline when you PVP. But ganking is a game mechanic. You can't be a space pirate without being able to pillage and plunder. Likewise you can't be a vigilante permit hunter without ganking. Stop the whining! Not every war involves a wardec. Pick up a Small Nuetron Blaster II and fight back! As a rebel I stand with Big G. Oh and btw there are a lot more of us than you think. Watch your 6! -X

If you spend your in game time creating an organization to systematically greif miners, than shouldn't you expect their would eventually be one formed to counter it? This situation is of your own creation. Where it ends, no one knows. Don't belittle the attempt they are making. You should be proud of it, almost nurture it in a way. It can't do harm, but could create some worthwhile content.

If it were any other philosophy, it would be encouraged to grow. If this movement were focused on getting the miners to adapt in-game, this would be encouraged. However, this movement is intent on equating in-game actions to horrible crimes IRL, this should not stand, check the article over on gankerbumping (The 10k view special) for even more information on this:

It seems that most of the counter argument is that it is not real-life bullying but in-game bullying. Ok, there are spaceships in EVE and there are bulllying in EVE. I know that the spaceships are not real, and seriously I hope nobody try tro fly with one of the CCP models. I could argue about how real the in-game bulllying is, but I have not first-hand experience on real bullying... I was too autistic for the bullies in my school to enjoy it, too poor to suffer Ivy League bullies, and too late into military service to suffer initiation rituals. But I guess that the problem is that in-game bullying is very similar to real one and then the frontier blurs.

Of course, real-life bullying has survived for centuries, and so there are arguments against and for it. Very similar to in-game. Some school teachers would allow some level of it because it hardens the children. This is even more reasonable in an military economy as EVE; you want to harden the newbies, so u allow for bullies.

The typical bully in this way is the gate ganker that shoots AFKs and newbie without immediate value. The only benefit from the tears is to get some prestige of hardness within their gank, and the relative -absurd, really- lesson to the newbie.

Other ways of ganking are less justifiable on the grounds of hardening. Low level mission ganking, when the ganked guy is already on keyboard in the middle of a rat fighting fencing dance with usually a low level hull. Not hardening there, not benefits from the spoil, just pure ganking pride.

CODE is a bit less bullying, in the sense that it is less bullying if the guy stealing your snack actually wants to eat it, or is educated enough to taste it. And CODE could evolve to a real nothing-personal maffia entity racketing for hi-sec protection, if such racketing can be considered different of bullying. Moreover, there is some bussines involvement as they on one side need to replace the ships lost to CONCORD, and their own activity should raise the prices of such ships (miners are the basis to build them).